FOXBORO – A lot has changed since he last suited up for the Patriots, but one thing hasn’t – and never will.

Willie McGinest will always be No. 1.

As a linebacker coming out of the University of Southern California two decades ago, McGinest was the first draft pick during Robert Kraft’s ownership

“Twenty years is a long time,” said McGinest, the fourth overall choice in 1994 who went on to enjoy a 15-year NFL career, 12 of those seasons in New England. “It seemed like time flew and being here and being a part of what I see now, still improvements, things are still going on, changes are still being made. We’ve come a long way.”

On Thursday night, McGinest was back at Gillette Stadium, standing alongside Kraft, fielding questions from fans as part of a question-and-answer period at the Patriots’ team draft party.

Tonight, he’ll be on hand at Radio City Music Hall in New York representing the Patriots at the draft as, for the fourth straight year, the league enlists former players to announce teams’ second-round picks.

In previous years, Andre Tippett, Troy Brown and Kevin Faulk handled the honors for the Patriots.

Like Tippett, Brown and Faulk, McGinest is a throwback to a time when the Patriots were a sub-.500 team (joining an organization that had just suffered through its fifth straight losing season) playing at a subpar stadium (the old Foxboro Stadium).

“This was home,” said McGinest, who now works as an analyst for the NFL Network. “The leaks in the training room when I was getting taped when it rained and all the things. We were talking earlier and the concrete right outside the grass area. If you go to far in the end zone you got your cleats and you’re sliding, you’re falling all over the place. That was home. It was home. That’s all we knew. That’s all we really cared about.

“I think we were interested in football and winning games. That’s the mentality that I had coming in under Bill Parcells. We were focused, we had that tunnel vision, and we didn’t really care about the fancy, really nice stadiums.”

Contributing to all three of the franchise’s Super Bowl champions, McGinest made his mark in New England. To this day, his 16 career sacks (in 18 games) and 4.5 sacks in the Patriots’ 28-3 romp over Jacksonville in a game on Jan. 7, 2006, both stand as NFL postseason records.

“We made the word ‘team’ sexy in the NFL,” said McGinest. “I think our class, our group, that foundation we had (did it). That wasn’t popular back then. It was more about individuals and individual accolades.

Page 2 of 2 - “We always said we’re all spokes on the wheel here. We’re all a little spoke that make the wheel go. It’s special for me to be part of the foundation to help put (the franchise) on the map and see where it is now.”

Around the league

South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney went to the Houston Texans with the first pick overall Thursday night. … Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel slipped all the way to the Cleveland Browns at No. 22. … The Patriots’ AFC East rivals in Buffalo sent their first-round picks this year and next and a fourth rounder in 2015 to Cleveland in order to move up five spots to select Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins. … Elsewhere in the division, the New York Jets took Louisville safety Calvin Pryor at 18 and the Miami Dolphins followed with Tennessee offensive tackle Ja’wuan James at 19.